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THE LAST EXORCISM REVIEW
For far too long, The Exorcist has remained the top of the pile among demonic possession and exorcism movies. Although the Evil Dead movies successfully ramped up the possession themes during the 1980s, nothing has touched the grandaddy of these movies with its deeply religious overtones, shocking possession scenes, and groundbreaking (for its time) horror. It was with some hope that I went to see The Last Exorcism, the latest offering from Eli Roth, that this may be The Exorcist for the modern era.
What strikes you immediately is the quality of the acting. The cast of relatively unknown actors is incredibly strong, and nobody - not even the minor bit parts - puts in a poor performance. The stand out performances are the two main characters played by Patrick Fabian, who plays the exorcist who has a dwindling belief in his own religious livelihood, and Ashley Bell, the sweet young teenage girl who seems to be deeply troubled by guilt, shame, and demonic forces. Her performance is amazingly subtle and honest, worthy of some note.
This is another of those Blair Witch type movies, shot with a hand held camera which is in the narrative fabric of the story, and played for all its worth like a genuine documentary. If you don't like this type of film then The Last Exorcism won't convert you - you'll probably hate it. But if you appreciate this type of movie, which effectively removes a layer of safety by preventing you from being a passive observer to the narrative and forces you to feel more immediately involved, then you will find plenty of good stuff in here. The film is shot incredibly well, acted superbly, and even has the guts to raise some prickly questions about religious faith and the nature of shame. The demonic possession scenes feel a bit restrained, as though the film makers did not dare tread into the murky waters that The Exorcist bathed in so forcefully, and instead plays safe to avoid causing too much offence. This is a big shame as the movie sets up its stall so carefully and superbly, yet the actual goods for sale feel a bit lacking and unadventurous.
This would have been a five star movie but for one major thing that ruins it. The ending. Sadly, The Last Exorcism completely falls apart at the end, so much so that it manages to undo all the good work done at the start of the movie and makes a total mockery of itself. The end is so poor that it actually makes the whole film feel like it was terrible. It's an unbelievable shame, and a total betrayal to the superb cast of actors. My advice would be to leave the cinema 10 minutes before the film ends, and leave it on a cliffhanger rather than suffer the most ridiculous conclusion ever filmed. This movie came so close to being a great horror movie and a contender to The Exorcist, but ultimately it fails in a most spectacular manner.
3 out of 5
THE JONESES REVIEW
The Joneses are a rather strange family of well-off suburbanites who seem to enjoy all the material perks of wealth, spreading the desires of cold consumerism among their neighbours and forever showing off their latest designer goods. What emerges is that this family is a fake, put together and implanted into a wealthy community to act as covert salespeople. They are there to sell a lifestyle, to pretend to be the ultimate happy family, and to display the dubious quality that their happiness comes from their material wealth.
What surprised me most about The Joneses is just how deep and heavy it dares to go in its exploration of material desire and cruel capitalism. I was expecting a fairly quirky satire about American middle class stupidity, but instead was treated to an ambitious human drama which digs its heels into some weighty themes. It does get a little preachy at times, by suggesting that if you have everything then you have nothing and showcasing the alienation, isolation, and soul destroying effects of obscene materialism. But it keeps such a keen eye on conspicuous consumption and its effects, that The Joneses gives us a glimpse of modern consumer desire and may even show you an uncomfortable reflection of yourself if you are of this ilk.
There is a strong romantic thread at the heart of the film and I applaud it for avoiding the usual Hollywood sentimental schmaltz. David Duchovny and Demi Moore both turn out great performances and the supporting cast are ideal for the movie and its subject matter.
This film is absolutely not what I was expecting it to be, but I'm glad to say that this is a good thing. It's a sleeper hit that will no doubt find a big audience over time, providing a truthful human drama in much the same way as American Beauty and Secrets and Lies. Well worthy of your attention, and should give you plenty of food for thought if you like your materialistic lifestyle.
4 out of 5
SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD REVIEW
A film as pure in geek chic as Scott Pilgrim deserves a truly thoroughbred geek director, and it got one. Edgar Wright, the director behind the legendary Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, is about as geek as they come and is well qualified for this movie. Scott Pilgrim is a mad escapist fanboy fantasy about young love and romance and the bewildering complicated mess that it can be, alongside hard rocking grunge music, early 1990s videogame production design, endless martial arts scrapping, and comic book touches such as sound effects being visually represented with big words bouncing around the screen as a noise happens.
The plot is based on the graphic novels in which Scott must defeat the seven evil ex boyfriends of his new squeeze. They all have various skills and powers but, luckily for Scott, this is a world of pure fantasy and he has some pretty impressive fighting abilities himself, as well as an extraordinary resistance to injury. The movie doesn't so much flow, as bounces like a pinball trapped in a steroid vending machine. One second you get awkward romance, then a rock concert that leads right into a big fight that dives straight into the next bit and so on. It's runs at an exhausting pace but it is pretty good fun.
It may be slightly picky given the source material and the mission statement of the movie, but it has to be said that cramming seven major fights, several friendships, and several relationships into one flat-out movie does leave the character depth somewhat lacking, and the relationships are flimsy. To be honest everything flashes and pops past you at such a pace that you will barely notice that you even care about this until afterwards. The graphic novels do take a bit more time with these things (because they can I suppose) but Wright has crafted this movie pretty well and done okay with the characters, possibly as good as can be expected considering the amount he's stuffed into it.
Some excellent casting choices (including a couple of particularly genre-pleasing superhero veterans), a tight - if very silly - plot, and stacks of mind bending action make Scott Pilgrim vs the World a piece of genuinely fun entertainment. It isn't quite the Epic of Epic Epicness that the poster promised, but it is still pretty epic.
4 out of 5
GROWN UPS REVIEW
Adam Sandler and his real-life actor friends appear in this over sentimental comedy about family and friendship. A gang of grown up school pals are reunited after 30 years following the death of the old school basketball coach. They celebrate the life of the coach by visiting a holiday resort and water park, during which a whole load of p**s taking banter is exchanged, and a few manipulative moments of Hollywood sentimentality forces your skin to turn cold.
Watching this movie was fairly good fun, it did have a few funny moments in it that made me laugh but upon reflection, this is a very shallow, and very meaningless movie which boils down to Sandler and his mates filming themselves on a jolly that we then pay to see. And when I really thought about it, none of the laughs came from the narrative (which is incredibly weak), they only came from silly gag moments. It all felt a bit lazy and the quality control was clearly absent from the script writing process.
It certainly wasn't the worst film I've ever seen, and as Hollywood comedies struggle so much to make me laugh it gains a point for actually achieving a few chuckles. However you should watch this with the full expectation that it is a chocolate muffin. It has zero nutritional value, offering only a few tasty mouthfuls that will likely leave you feeling a bit off colour afterwards.
2 out of 5
DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS REVIEW
Steve Carell has more than proven himself to be a genuine comedy talent capable of taking on the sagging might of Jim Carey. In Dinner for Schmucks, he plays a person of extraordinary talent (otherwise known as an idiot) and is invited to dinner by a young executive who is trying to impress his boss and his girlfriend. The dinner in question is a rather dubious event in which the rich business guys bring an idiot along so that the business guys can all laugh at them. They even offer a humiliating trophy for the biggest idiot. It's a troubling plot that doesn't quite work out.
Carell plays the idiot very well. Instead of a bumbling comedy buffoon, which would have been the easy way to do it, he instead gives his idiot a bit of charm and character through an awkward innocence and generates a very likeable moron. Sadly, that's where any good words have to stop. The rest of the film is a bit lame overall, playing like a fairly basic TV sitcom and dishing out a very predictable conclusion. A few performances were notably poor, including Lucy Punch who played a stalker ex girlfriend with a camp pantomime enthusiasm and Little Britain's David Walliams, who was perhaps the worst actor in the whole movie. His Swiss aristocrat was simply atrocious and utterly devoid of even the slightest hint of humour.
It would be unfair to label this as a bad movie. It wasn't that bad. It even made me laugh several times. But I was left feeling that it ought to have been better, that it should have been better. The Dinner Game reminded me of an old 1980s satirical horror movie called Society, in which the rich aristocracy found perverse and bizarre ways to amuse themselves at the expense of the poor and the misfits of society. It was also seemingly informed by the likes of X-Factor and American Idol, in which millionaire judges sit and laugh at bewildered wannabes in cruel talent shows. It is an uncomfortable premise with a social commentary that was sadly drowned out in Dinner for Schmucks by its over indulgence on simply trying too hard to be funny.
3 out of 5
FOUR LIONS REVIEW
Comedy can transcend all controversy if handled right. I had no doubts whatsoever that in the hands of Chris Morris, a textbook example of genuine comedy genius if ever there was one, a comedy about British Muslim extremists would be sharp, witty, funny, and expertly crafted. Despite my lack of doubts and my complete faith, I was still impressed with just how smart and clever this film was. Four Lions is a blistering foray into the secretive world of Islamic terrorism, only the terrorists are inept to the point of borderline slapstick. Morris is not shy about revealing a few awkward realities in his movie, whether it's the brain-washed sexism of some young Muslim men, the horrific casualness and detachment with which the terrorists discuss blowing things up, or even the errors of judgement by the UK police force leading to the shooting of innocent people due to mistaken identity (this scene very cleverly uses fancy dress costumes to replace the racial descriptions of the victims involved. It is unrivalled brilliance, you have to see it to believe it).
Anyone who knows of Morris's work will no doubt remember the now notorious Brass Eye, especially the pedophile episode. If you apply the same thinking then you get how Four Lions is presented. It isn't anti-Islamic, nor anti-British, and to some degree it isn't even anti-terrorism. It steers well clear of being anti-anything (or pro-anything for that matter), and instead simply tells a tragic story about four misguided young men in a very funny way. What is most ingenious is that despite the horror of what the terrorists are planning, you still manage to sympathise with them and the tragedy of their inevitable outcome isn't lost on you.
Islamic terrorism is a terrifying subject and one which can be inflammatory, offensive, and just downright scary. It takes a committed effort to turn this very modern dangerous reality into a comedy delivered with warmth and sparkling humour without causing riots. But this is exactly what Four Lions does and once again, Chris Morris will either have you falling at his feet at the sheer scale of his genius or you'll be forming a lynch mob to hang the b*****d. Quite frankly this guy is the new messiah of modern comedy.
5 out of 5
COLOURED PEOPLE
I hate political correctness. It stifles creativity, crushes free opinions, and has more to do with "mind police" than it does with "moral guidelines". Under the principles of PC, nobody has the right to express judgemental opinions about people of colour. And so, in the spirit of free thinking and anti-PC dogma, here's what I think of coloured people in movies.
BLUE PEOPLE
There are not that many blue people in movies but what few exist are pretty interesting. The most obvious example at the moment is the Na'vi from Avatar, huge 9ft tall blue skinned aliens with very athletic bodies and tree-hugging warrior sensibilities. The X-Men movies were not short of a few blue people. The impossibly sexy Mystique, the supernatural Nightcrawler, and the powerful Beast, all share a blue ethnicity. The Diva, who sings a very unusual alien opera in the 5th Element, looks very tasty in blue, and of course Dr. Manhattan from the Watchmen has a hypnotic blue glowing skin which is awesome to behold. There is a tendency to make characters blue when they have an air of mystery to them, some sort of unique quality which can be either hostile or benign. Blue skinned character are often curious and romantic, with the ability to reveal hidden powers and unexpected qualities.
GREEN PEOPLE
Green skin usually represents all that is alien or mutant, often portraying the character as a grotesque otherworldly being. The fear of mutation caused by exposure to scientific experiments is captured in the raging spirit of the Hulk. Yoda, on the other hand, is a wise old Jedi who sports a very alien green hue in his skin pigment. Shrek is a family favourite, an ogre who is loveable and hideous with his green flesh, representing some form of mutated humanoid being, and the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz is also green, demonstrating her detachment from mainstream humanity by appearing once again like a mutated image of womanhood. In nature, green is an earthy colour, adopted by reptiles and exotic birds, but in culture it is a fearsome colour. Aliens are often described as "little green men" and weird creatures in mythology are often green. Green skin represents the inner fears of what we fail to understand.
RED PEOPLE
Behind our own human skin, no matter what colour we are on the outside, we are all made of red fleshy chunks. Frank, the evil villain from Clive Barker's Hellraiser, spent most of the movie without any skin at all, walking around with his muscles and tendons on show for all the world to see. This is the most extreme use of red on the human form. To peel away the superficial layers to reveal what lies beneath, to get to the truth about all human life, that we are all the same just a few millimetres beneath our skin. Red is also the classic skin colour for the Devil, and it is rare that you get a loveable hero with red skin. Hellboy, a demonic being, and Darkness, the mighty demon from Legend, both have hellish red skin. Darth Maul's red skin with its black tattooed tribal patterns has an eerie menace to it. It seems almost painfully obvious that red skin represents evil and peril, and is not to be trusted.
WHITE PEOPLE
No, not white like caucasian, but proper white. White skin reminds us of our mortality, as the characters that sport this deathly countenance are often the vampires, the zombies, the ghosts, the demonic, and the undead. The haunting image of Hellraiser's Pin Head, the grim pallor of Vampire Bill's intense stare, and the creepy white make-ups of the Crow and the Joker, all send eerie signals to our brains that these characters have all confronted the chilling shadow of death, something we ourselves will one day face. White skin may remind us of human skulls or of supernatural images of ghosts, but whatever triggers they pull in our brains, white skinned movie characters certainly reminds us that we're not built to last and this is why they always send shivers down our spines.
What? You thought this would actually be offensive? Gimme a break!
Viewed 9181 times
by Rick Jones
www.rebeldog.co.uk
THE LAST EXORCISM REVIEW
For far too long, The Exorcist has remained the top of the pile among demonic possession and exorcism movies. Although the Evil Dead movies successfully ramped up the possession themes during the 1980s, nothing has touched the grandaddy of these movies with its deeply religious overtones, shocking possession scenes, and groundbreaking (for its time) horror. It was with some hope that I went to see The Last Exorcism, the latest offering from Eli Roth, that this may be The Exorcist for the modern era.
What strikes you immediately is the quality of the acting. The cast of relatively unknown actors is incredibly strong, and nobody - not even the minor bit parts - puts in a poor performance. The stand out performances are the two main characters played by Patrick Fabian, who plays the exorcist who has a dwindling belief in his own religious livelihood, and Ashley Bell, the sweet young teenage girl who seems to be deeply troubled by guilt, shame, and demonic forces. Her performance is amazingly subtle and honest, worthy of some note.
This is another of those Blair Witch type movies, shot with a hand held camera which is in the narrative fabric of the story, and played for all its worth like a genuine documentary. If you don't like this type of film then The Last Exorcism won't convert you - you'll probably hate it. But if you appreciate this type of movie, which effectively removes a layer of safety by preventing you from being a passive observer to the narrative and forces you to feel more immediately involved, then you will find plenty of good stuff in here. The film is shot incredibly well, acted superbly, and even has the guts to raise some prickly questions about religious faith and the nature of shame. The demonic possession scenes feel a bit restrained, as though the film makers did not dare tread into the murky waters that The Exorcist bathed in so forcefully, and instead plays safe to avoid causing too much offence. This is a big shame as the movie sets up its stall so carefully and superbly, yet the actual goods for sale feel a bit lacking and unadventurous.
This would have been a five star movie but for one major thing that ruins it. The ending. Sadly, The Last Exorcism completely falls apart at the end, so much so that it manages to undo all the good work done at the start of the movie and makes a total mockery of itself. The end is so poor that it actually makes the whole film feel like it was terrible. It's an unbelievable shame, and a total betrayal to the superb cast of actors. My advice would be to leave the cinema 10 minutes before the film ends, and leave it on a cliffhanger rather than suffer the most ridiculous conclusion ever filmed. This movie came so close to being a great horror movie and a contender to The Exorcist, but ultimately it fails in a most spectacular manner.
3 out of 5
THE JONESES REVIEW
The Joneses are a rather strange family of well-off suburbanites who seem to enjoy all the material perks of wealth, spreading the desires of cold consumerism among their neighbours and forever showing off their latest designer goods. What emerges is that this family is a fake, put together and implanted into a wealthy community to act as covert salespeople. They are there to sell a lifestyle, to pretend to be the ultimate happy family, and to display the dubious quality that their happiness comes from their material wealth.
What surprised me most about The Joneses is just how deep and heavy it dares to go in its exploration of material desire and cruel capitalism. I was expecting a fairly quirky satire about American middle class stupidity, but instead was treated to an ambitious human drama which digs its heels into some weighty themes. It does get a little preachy at times, by suggesting that if you have everything then you have nothing and showcasing the alienation, isolation, and soul destroying effects of obscene materialism. But it keeps such a keen eye on conspicuous consumption and its effects, that The Joneses gives us a glimpse of modern consumer desire and may even show you an uncomfortable reflection of yourself if you are of this ilk.
There is a strong romantic thread at the heart of the film and I applaud it for avoiding the usual Hollywood sentimental schmaltz. David Duchovny and Demi Moore both turn out great performances and the supporting cast are ideal for the movie and its subject matter.
This film is absolutely not what I was expecting it to be, but I'm glad to say that this is a good thing. It's a sleeper hit that will no doubt find a big audience over time, providing a truthful human drama in much the same way as American Beauty and Secrets and Lies. Well worthy of your attention, and should give you plenty of food for thought if you like your materialistic lifestyle.
4 out of 5
SCOTT PILGRIM VS THE WORLD REVIEW
A film as pure in geek chic as Scott Pilgrim deserves a truly thoroughbred geek director, and it got one. Edgar Wright, the director behind the legendary Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, is about as geek as they come and is well qualified for this movie. Scott Pilgrim is a mad escapist fanboy fantasy about young love and romance and the bewildering complicated mess that it can be, alongside hard rocking grunge music, early 1990s videogame production design, endless martial arts scrapping, and comic book touches such as sound effects being visually represented with big words bouncing around the screen as a noise happens.
The plot is based on the graphic novels in which Scott must defeat the seven evil ex boyfriends of his new squeeze. They all have various skills and powers but, luckily for Scott, this is a world of pure fantasy and he has some pretty impressive fighting abilities himself, as well as an extraordinary resistance to injury. The movie doesn't so much flow, as bounces like a pinball trapped in a steroid vending machine. One second you get awkward romance, then a rock concert that leads right into a big fight that dives straight into the next bit and so on. It's runs at an exhausting pace but it is pretty good fun.
It may be slightly picky given the source material and the mission statement of the movie, but it has to be said that cramming seven major fights, several friendships, and several relationships into one flat-out movie does leave the character depth somewhat lacking, and the relationships are flimsy. To be honest everything flashes and pops past you at such a pace that you will barely notice that you even care about this until afterwards. The graphic novels do take a bit more time with these things (because they can I suppose) but Wright has crafted this movie pretty well and done okay with the characters, possibly as good as can be expected considering the amount he's stuffed into it.
Some excellent casting choices (including a couple of particularly genre-pleasing superhero veterans), a tight - if very silly - plot, and stacks of mind bending action make Scott Pilgrim vs the World a piece of genuinely fun entertainment. It isn't quite the Epic of Epic Epicness that the poster promised, but it is still pretty epic.
4 out of 5
GROWN UPS REVIEW
Adam Sandler and his real-life actor friends appear in this over sentimental comedy about family and friendship. A gang of grown up school pals are reunited after 30 years following the death of the old school basketball coach. They celebrate the life of the coach by visiting a holiday resort and water park, during which a whole load of p**s taking banter is exchanged, and a few manipulative moments of Hollywood sentimentality forces your skin to turn cold.
Watching this movie was fairly good fun, it did have a few funny moments in it that made me laugh but upon reflection, this is a very shallow, and very meaningless movie which boils down to Sandler and his mates filming themselves on a jolly that we then pay to see. And when I really thought about it, none of the laughs came from the narrative (which is incredibly weak), they only came from silly gag moments. It all felt a bit lazy and the quality control was clearly absent from the script writing process.
It certainly wasn't the worst film I've ever seen, and as Hollywood comedies struggle so much to make me laugh it gains a point for actually achieving a few chuckles. However you should watch this with the full expectation that it is a chocolate muffin. It has zero nutritional value, offering only a few tasty mouthfuls that will likely leave you feeling a bit off colour afterwards.
2 out of 5
DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS REVIEW
Steve Carell has more than proven himself to be a genuine comedy talent capable of taking on the sagging might of Jim Carey. In Dinner for Schmucks, he plays a person of extraordinary talent (otherwise known as an idiot) and is invited to dinner by a young executive who is trying to impress his boss and his girlfriend. The dinner in question is a rather dubious event in which the rich business guys bring an idiot along so that the business guys can all laugh at them. They even offer a humiliating trophy for the biggest idiot. It's a troubling plot that doesn't quite work out.
Carell plays the idiot very well. Instead of a bumbling comedy buffoon, which would have been the easy way to do it, he instead gives his idiot a bit of charm and character through an awkward innocence and generates a very likeable moron. Sadly, that's where any good words have to stop. The rest of the film is a bit lame overall, playing like a fairly basic TV sitcom and dishing out a very predictable conclusion. A few performances were notably poor, including Lucy Punch who played a stalker ex girlfriend with a camp pantomime enthusiasm and Little Britain's David Walliams, who was perhaps the worst actor in the whole movie. His Swiss aristocrat was simply atrocious and utterly devoid of even the slightest hint of humour.
It would be unfair to label this as a bad movie. It wasn't that bad. It even made me laugh several times. But I was left feeling that it ought to have been better, that it should have been better. The Dinner Game reminded me of an old 1980s satirical horror movie called Society, in which the rich aristocracy found perverse and bizarre ways to amuse themselves at the expense of the poor and the misfits of society. It was also seemingly informed by the likes of X-Factor and American Idol, in which millionaire judges sit and laugh at bewildered wannabes in cruel talent shows. It is an uncomfortable premise with a social commentary that was sadly drowned out in Dinner for Schmucks by its over indulgence on simply trying too hard to be funny.
3 out of 5
FOUR LIONS REVIEW
Comedy can transcend all controversy if handled right. I had no doubts whatsoever that in the hands of Chris Morris, a textbook example of genuine comedy genius if ever there was one, a comedy about British Muslim extremists would be sharp, witty, funny, and expertly crafted. Despite my lack of doubts and my complete faith, I was still impressed with just how smart and clever this film was. Four Lions is a blistering foray into the secretive world of Islamic terrorism, only the terrorists are inept to the point of borderline slapstick. Morris is not shy about revealing a few awkward realities in his movie, whether it's the brain-washed sexism of some young Muslim men, the horrific casualness and detachment with which the terrorists discuss blowing things up, or even the errors of judgement by the UK police force leading to the shooting of innocent people due to mistaken identity (this scene very cleverly uses fancy dress costumes to replace the racial descriptions of the victims involved. It is unrivalled brilliance, you have to see it to believe it).
Anyone who knows of Morris's work will no doubt remember the now notorious Brass Eye, especially the pedophile episode. If you apply the same thinking then you get how Four Lions is presented. It isn't anti-Islamic, nor anti-British, and to some degree it isn't even anti-terrorism. It steers well clear of being anti-anything (or pro-anything for that matter), and instead simply tells a tragic story about four misguided young men in a very funny way. What is most ingenious is that despite the horror of what the terrorists are planning, you still manage to sympathise with them and the tragedy of their inevitable outcome isn't lost on you.
Islamic terrorism is a terrifying subject and one which can be inflammatory, offensive, and just downright scary. It takes a committed effort to turn this very modern dangerous reality into a comedy delivered with warmth and sparkling humour without causing riots. But this is exactly what Four Lions does and once again, Chris Morris will either have you falling at his feet at the sheer scale of his genius or you'll be forming a lynch mob to hang the b*****d. Quite frankly this guy is the new messiah of modern comedy.
5 out of 5
COLOURED PEOPLE
I hate political correctness. It stifles creativity, crushes free opinions, and has more to do with "mind police" than it does with "moral guidelines". Under the principles of PC, nobody has the right to express judgemental opinions about people of colour. And so, in the spirit of free thinking and anti-PC dogma, here's what I think of coloured people in movies.
BLUE PEOPLE
There are not that many blue people in movies but what few exist are pretty interesting. The most obvious example at the moment is the Na'vi from Avatar, huge 9ft tall blue skinned aliens with very athletic bodies and tree-hugging warrior sensibilities. The X-Men movies were not short of a few blue people. The impossibly sexy Mystique, the supernatural Nightcrawler, and the powerful Beast, all share a blue ethnicity. The Diva, who sings a very unusual alien opera in the 5th Element, looks very tasty in blue, and of course Dr. Manhattan from the Watchmen has a hypnotic blue glowing skin which is awesome to behold. There is a tendency to make characters blue when they have an air of mystery to them, some sort of unique quality which can be either hostile or benign. Blue skinned character are often curious and romantic, with the ability to reveal hidden powers and unexpected qualities.
GREEN PEOPLE
Green skin usually represents all that is alien or mutant, often portraying the character as a grotesque otherworldly being. The fear of mutation caused by exposure to scientific experiments is captured in the raging spirit of the Hulk. Yoda, on the other hand, is a wise old Jedi who sports a very alien green hue in his skin pigment. Shrek is a family favourite, an ogre who is loveable and hideous with his green flesh, representing some form of mutated humanoid being, and the wicked witch from the Wizard of Oz is also green, demonstrating her detachment from mainstream humanity by appearing once again like a mutated image of womanhood. In nature, green is an earthy colour, adopted by reptiles and exotic birds, but in culture it is a fearsome colour. Aliens are often described as "little green men" and weird creatures in mythology are often green. Green skin represents the inner fears of what we fail to understand.
RED PEOPLE
Behind our own human skin, no matter what colour we are on the outside, we are all made of red fleshy chunks. Frank, the evil villain from Clive Barker's Hellraiser, spent most of the movie without any skin at all, walking around with his muscles and tendons on show for all the world to see. This is the most extreme use of red on the human form. To peel away the superficial layers to reveal what lies beneath, to get to the truth about all human life, that we are all the same just a few millimetres beneath our skin. Red is also the classic skin colour for the Devil, and it is rare that you get a loveable hero with red skin. Hellboy, a demonic being, and Darkness, the mighty demon from Legend, both have hellish red skin. Darth Maul's red skin with its black tattooed tribal patterns has an eerie menace to it. It seems almost painfully obvious that red skin represents evil and peril, and is not to be trusted.
WHITE PEOPLE
No, not white like caucasian, but proper white. White skin reminds us of our mortality, as the characters that sport this deathly countenance are often the vampires, the zombies, the ghosts, the demonic, and the undead. The haunting image of Hellraiser's Pin Head, the grim pallor of Vampire Bill's intense stare, and the creepy white make-ups of the Crow and the Joker, all send eerie signals to our brains that these characters have all confronted the chilling shadow of death, something we ourselves will one day face. White skin may remind us of human skulls or of supernatural images of ghosts, but whatever triggers they pull in our brains, white skinned movie characters certainly reminds us that we're not built to last and this is why they always send shivers down our spines.
What? You thought this would actually be offensive? Gimme a break!
Add your comment...
Just watched Revolver now can anyone out there please explain it to me...lol
11 August 2010 at 12:07 AM
11 August 2010 at 12:07 AM
Wife and daughter went to see Nanny McFee and the Big Bang today (7/8). They both raved about it. I raved cos all films on a Saturday morning are a pound £1 entrance each for a child and adult. The cineworld was well attended with kids dispersing to different screens. Great value with a choice of about 5 movies.
7 August 2010 at 6:25 PM
7 August 2010 at 6:25 PM
Looks an interesting one there Splice. Adrien Brody and Sarah Polley are very good indeed as actors. Have seen them in seperate films in recent times and very very good they are. I forget the name of the Polley film off the top of my head, Sean Penn was also in it, about early settlers. The one I saw with Brody was The Pianist and although tough viewing was also a fine film. A disturbing but eventually opitimistic tale of holocaust.
Last night on the TV I sat and watched Moulin Rouge for the first time. It was great, I even got a bit emotional there with all that love and romance. It was of course studio bound but gawd it was technical and I would imagine very very difficult to make. The interweaving of various musics and different scenes looks a nightmare to produce. I did some work at onetime in the theatres of the west end, during rehearsels and whathaveyou, and I can see how difficult it was to get this film right. It must have blitzed the senses on the big cinema screens.
Whether it will grace the film buff classics in years to come, like say Singing in the Rain, I dont know. Is it just one of its time?
2 August 2010 at 7:55 AM
Last night on the TV I sat and watched Moulin Rouge for the first time. It was great, I even got a bit emotional there with all that love and romance. It was of course studio bound but gawd it was technical and I would imagine very very difficult to make. The interweaving of various musics and different scenes looks a nightmare to produce. I did some work at onetime in the theatres of the west end, during rehearsels and whathaveyou, and I can see how difficult it was to get this film right. It must have blitzed the senses on the big cinema screens.
Whether it will grace the film buff classics in years to come, like say Singing in the Rain, I dont know. Is it just one of its time?
2 August 2010 at 7:55 AM
Leonardo has definitely matured as an actor. He's shed his teen pin-up image and ever since Blood Diamond has demonstrated a genuine talent that is miles above his Titanic / Romeo and Juliet days!
29 July 2010 at 10:02 PM
29 July 2010 at 10:02 PM
Thanks Rick a great review. It's showing here at the moment. I will try to see it later this week with my sons aged 20 and 22 , they are fairly critical about everything in life whether it be my cooking or the latest pc game .....lol.Personally I have never been too sure about DiCaprio's acting ability....to me he lacks depth and that maturity that certain roles require but recently I watched Shutters Island and was caught up in the complexity of the film with all its twists and turns and was quite impressed by the lad..so maybe I was mistaken.
29 July 2010 at 3:25 AM
29 July 2010 at 3:25 AM
I hope you do Marek, it's the beauty of the web that us mere mortals who pay to watch movies can now all freely comment about them instead of just the posh critics! More power to your elbow :o)
22 June 2010 at 2:01 AM
22 June 2010 at 2:01 AM
Rick
Thanks for that info. If I manage to see it I'll post my opinion on it (for what it's worth).
21 June 2010 at 6:46 PM
Thanks for that info. If I manage to see it I'll post my opinion on it (for what it's worth).
21 June 2010 at 6:46 PM
Hi Marek
Yes I have heard of it but not seen it. Mark Kermode gave it a lukewarm review the other day. There's a general feeling among many reviewers that it has strong performances but a lazy script which doesn't do much with those performances. It's Tomatometer is currently on 43%, worked out from averaging 127 independent reviews. Basically, it's a safe bet to call it "average". It's not on my must-see list.
21 June 2010 at 5:54 PM
Yes I have heard of it but not seen it. Mark Kermode gave it a lukewarm review the other day. There's a general feeling among many reviewers that it has strong performances but a lazy script which doesn't do much with those performances. It's Tomatometer is currently on 43%, worked out from averaging 127 independent reviews. Basically, it's a safe bet to call it "average". It's not on my must-see list.
21 June 2010 at 5:54 PM
Rick
Have you seen this movie or read any reviews on it. It's showing over here and would appreciate any feedback
Thanks
BROOKLYN'S FINEST Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes
Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke star in this gritty cop drama from the director of 'Training Day'.
Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke star in this gritty cop drama from the director of 'Training Day'.
Three doomed New York cops working in the city's most dangerous precinct are each striving to conquer their personal demons. Tango (Don Cheadle) is a dedicated officer trapped in a deep undercover assignment where he's losing his identity and being forced to implicate his best friend Caz (Wesley Snipes). Sal (Ethan Hawke) is a loyal husband struggling to provide for his growing family and tempted by the drug money seized by the department. Eddie (Richard Gere) is an unstable and depressed loner on the verge of retirement, having to mentor a rookie graduate fresh from the academy. The three are never destined to meet until an organised drug raid leads them to the same fatal crime scene. From 'Training Day' director Antoine Fuqua Brooklyn's finest also features Ellen Barkin, Shannon Kane, Lili Taylor and Will Patton.
21 June 2010 at 9:06 AM
Have you seen this movie or read any reviews on it. It's showing over here and would appreciate any feedback
Thanks
BROOKLYN'S FINEST Director: Antoine Fuqua
Starring: Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes
Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke star in this gritty cop drama from the director of 'Training Day'.
Richard Gere, Don Cheadle and Ethan Hawke star in this gritty cop drama from the director of 'Training Day'.
Three doomed New York cops working in the city's most dangerous precinct are each striving to conquer their personal demons. Tango (Don Cheadle) is a dedicated officer trapped in a deep undercover assignment where he's losing his identity and being forced to implicate his best friend Caz (Wesley Snipes). Sal (Ethan Hawke) is a loyal husband struggling to provide for his growing family and tempted by the drug money seized by the department. Eddie (Richard Gere) is an unstable and depressed loner on the verge of retirement, having to mentor a rookie graduate fresh from the academy. The three are never destined to meet until an organised drug raid leads them to the same fatal crime scene. From 'Training Day' director Antoine Fuqua Brooklyn's finest also features Ellen Barkin, Shannon Kane, Lili Taylor and Will Patton.
21 June 2010 at 9:06 AM
At least with current tech, 3D cannot work without a filtering system of some sort (ie glasses) but who's to say that won't change? As it stands, 3D is just a novelty. It won't become a significant thing until they learn to remove the "frame" of the TV screen in order to generate an all-round imersive environment.
13 June 2010 at 3:25 AM
13 June 2010 at 3:25 AM
I have to say Rick. I was underwhelmed by Avatar in 3D. I had a headache from it and kept removing the glasses to give my eyes a rest. I suspect that I would have enjoyed the film more in the normal 2d format.
I really am not interested in 3D at home either and like you I speak as someone who loves hi-def films.
It may change and perhaps this new tech will work better, leaving me without a headache but it still needs glasses and I just dont want to sit at home wearing glasses to watch tv.
9 June 2010 at 4:48 PM
I really am not interested in 3D at home either and like you I speak as someone who loves hi-def films.
It may change and perhaps this new tech will work better, leaving me without a headache but it still needs glasses and I just dont want to sit at home wearing glasses to watch tv.
9 June 2010 at 4:48 PM
BARRY:
Irish? Russell Crowe's accent may have been Irish with a touch of Welsh-Geordie-Indian-Australian, but it sure the hell wasn't Nottinghamshire!
PAULB:
Have you seen The Departed? I kid you not, Mark Whalberg is outstanding in that film. He;s shit in just about everything else though, and is attached to some utterly hopeless movies such as Max Payne, The Lovely Bones, The Happening, and of course that atrocious Planet of the Apes. When he's good he is amazing, but so far it has been only on very rare occassions.
24 May 2010 at 8:47 PM
Irish? Russell Crowe's accent may have been Irish with a touch of Welsh-Geordie-Indian-Australian, but it sure the hell wasn't Nottinghamshire!
PAULB:
Have you seen The Departed? I kid you not, Mark Whalberg is outstanding in that film. He;s shit in just about everything else though, and is attached to some utterly hopeless movies such as Max Payne, The Lovely Bones, The Happening, and of course that atrocious Planet of the Apes. When he's good he is amazing, but so far it has been only on very rare occassions.
24 May 2010 at 8:47 PM
Went to see the new Robin hood Saturday.
Very good enjoyable romp but as always I do get frustrated by historical innaccuracies particularly as it showed King Phillip being repulsed as he landed with nothing about the seige of Dover Castle!
By the way, whatever he says, Russell Crowe does have an Irish accent in the film!!!
24 May 2010 at 6:09 PM
Very good enjoyable romp but as always I do get frustrated by historical innaccuracies particularly as it showed King Phillip being repulsed as he landed with nothing about the seige of Dover Castle!
By the way, whatever he says, Russell Crowe does have an Irish accent in the film!!!
24 May 2010 at 6:09 PM
Good stuff there Rick.
I havent seen any of above so I must go off on a tangent and have a ramble or should that be grumble about Mark Wahlberg.
A few months back we talked about him on here in one film, cant remember which one for the moment, about his one-dimensionalism in something or other. Well last night on Film FOUR he graced our screens in SHOOTER. Did anyone else see it? He confirmed for me yet again his one flat gear, no overdrive for Mark, although it must be said it was suited to the movie last night to some extent..but he has no emotional dimension and has all the performance of a wooden fencepost.
The film itself was quite good for the first hour as the story built up but once we got into the realms of the 'shoot em up exploding head' fantasy the whole thing became farcical and turned into a video game.
How come the hero is always the one who can beat, outshoot, outkill, everyone else on the planet, If the US Governemnt can train one guy like that, they can train a 1,000 others too, to be equally as competant in the same destructive areas. So in other words no matter how good you are or might be, you are always nullified by others with the same skills. This basic fact seems to get lost on Hollywood.
The film itself was so full of holes that it was plain silly in the end, but like I said very good for the first hour.
I dont know why movies have to enter into the realms of total idiotic fantasy, but maybe its an age thing, after all I suppose its aimed at a juvenile market that grew up on video games. The problem with that scenario though is that every bloody action movie is exactly the same.
24 May 2010 at 11:47 AM
I havent seen any of above so I must go off on a tangent and have a ramble or should that be grumble about Mark Wahlberg.
A few months back we talked about him on here in one film, cant remember which one for the moment, about his one-dimensionalism in something or other. Well last night on Film FOUR he graced our screens in SHOOTER. Did anyone else see it? He confirmed for me yet again his one flat gear, no overdrive for Mark, although it must be said it was suited to the movie last night to some extent..but he has no emotional dimension and has all the performance of a wooden fencepost.
The film itself was quite good for the first hour as the story built up but once we got into the realms of the 'shoot em up exploding head' fantasy the whole thing became farcical and turned into a video game.
How come the hero is always the one who can beat, outshoot, outkill, everyone else on the planet, If the US Governemnt can train one guy like that, they can train a 1,000 others too, to be equally as competant in the same destructive areas. So in other words no matter how good you are or might be, you are always nullified by others with the same skills. This basic fact seems to get lost on Hollywood.
The film itself was so full of holes that it was plain silly in the end, but like I said very good for the first hour.
I dont know why movies have to enter into the realms of total idiotic fantasy, but maybe its an age thing, after all I suppose its aimed at a juvenile market that grew up on video games. The problem with that scenario though is that every bloody action movie is exactly the same.
24 May 2010 at 11:47 AM
excellent reviews from rick there.
i think winstone improves with getting older, his more recent films
tend to be better thn his older stuff.
17 May 2010 at 8:58 PM
i think winstone improves with getting older, his more recent films
tend to be better thn his older stuff.
17 May 2010 at 8:58 PM
Very interesting review there Rick about Robin Hood and it is just as I expected. There is a huge trend to jazz up all these subjects so that its all 'wash n go' or should that be 'rush n go' and bearing almost no relation to the original simple but very effective story. The core of what makes Robin Hood a hero is that he robs the rich to give to the poor, but as you say there above, this isnt covered. Probably considered uncool. Ive seen nothing more than the fast trailer on TV but all the battle scenes left me feeling a bit alienated and yes again thinking of Braveheart, and that was just the excerpt. Braveheart was a movie i didnt like.
We've had some odd choices playing Robin Hood..Kevin Costner leaps to mind..but oul Richard Greene was good for me, but then he was the one I grew up with.
17 May 2010 at 7:42 AM
We've had some odd choices playing Robin Hood..Kevin Costner leaps to mind..but oul Richard Greene was good for me, but then he was the one I grew up with.
17 May 2010 at 7:42 AM
I've also heard that this movie is shadowing the events that took place with Blair, and Brosnan has been described as the "Blair Proxy" in this movie. The film has a few merit points but not much and is nowhere near daring enough to provoke any controversy and does little to spike your interest at any time. It may appeal to some, but I just didn't see the appeal.
20 April 2010 at 8:23 PM
20 April 2010 at 8:23 PM
I was waiting with interest Rick for your review of The Ghost. There is much nudging and winking that its actually loosely based on Tony Blair. Ive seen the trailers and thought it looked to be of real interest, but of the welcome low key variety. There is a good cast too, I personally like both Brosnan and McGregor but I see you didnt like it much at all, just 2 out of 5...oh dear.
20 April 2010 at 12:30 PM
20 April 2010 at 12:30 PM
I watched Harry Brown over the weekend, Michael Caine's latest. Similar theme to Gran Torino, an elderly man (ex Royal Marine) pushed to the edge by young thugs deciding to clean up his neighbourhood.
I thought it was better than the Eastwood film, grittier and more realistic, better ending too!
Been a bit of a surge in 'vigilente' films lately, there was Outlaw with Sean Bean not so long ago as well. I wonder why?
30 March 2010 at 5:42 PM
I thought it was better than the Eastwood film, grittier and more realistic, better ending too!
Been a bit of a surge in 'vigilente' films lately, there was Outlaw with Sean Bean not so long ago as well. I wonder why?
30 March 2010 at 5:42 PM
SHUTTER ISLAND
WOT A FANTASTIC FILM, WATCHED IT IN CINEMA AND ALTHOUGH IT WAS 2 HOURS 30 MINS THE TIME FLEW BY.
WAS THE MARSHALL MAD, OR WAS THIS A COMPLETE COVER UP BYU THE AUTHORITIES.
GREAT FILM, 10 0UT OF TEN
20 March 2010 at 6:45 PM
WOT A FANTASTIC FILM, WATCHED IT IN CINEMA AND ALTHOUGH IT WAS 2 HOURS 30 MINS THE TIME FLEW BY.
WAS THE MARSHALL MAD, OR WAS THIS A COMPLETE COVER UP BYU THE AUTHORITIES.
GREAT FILM, 10 0UT OF TEN
20 March 2010 at 6:45 PM
You've sold me on this one Rick, I'll take your advice and park my 'arse on a cinema seat', it looks as though he has matured as an actor and no longer the squeaky clean take home to Mom sort of guy.
17 March 2010 at 9:23 AM
17 March 2010 at 9:23 AM
It is a terrific movie Paul, and Leonardo is great in it. I think this must be the first time I have willingly offered the guy praise. Up until now I've always regarded him as a bit of a mummy's-boy actor with teenage squeal appeal. But no, the guy has ramped up a gear for this.
15 March 2010 at 8:20 PM
15 March 2010 at 8:20 PM
Very interesting one there Rick about Shutter Island, I saw an advert for this very one on the television last night. Couldnt figure out who the lead guy was in the ad for a minute or two and then I twigged that I was looking at Leonardo DiCaprio, the matured version. I wasnt sure if this guy, previously sweet as moms apple pie, would disappear but he seems very solid in this new one. Nobody sleeps on this one by the looks of it and not with Martin Scorsese as director.
15 March 2010 at 6:46 AM
15 March 2010 at 6:46 AM
I have Howard. Oscar Wilde was a great, witty writer, and Oscar Peterson is one of the all time great jazz pianist`s.
13 March 2010 at 8:43 PM
13 March 2010 at 8:43 PM
surely someone has a viewpoint on the oscars!!!
i thought this would be very busy on monday.
10 March 2010 at 7:50 PM
i thought this would be very busy on monday.
10 March 2010 at 7:50 PM
Colette I'm not 100% sure if I will be watching Alice in Wonderland - not my cuppa tea - so if you get a moment then please do post what you thought of it!!!
3 March 2010 at 9:54 PM
3 March 2010 at 9:54 PM
Very interesting reviews there Rick, I read The Time Traveler's Wife and must say I really enjoyed the book but it seems from reading the above, like a lot of movies, they sometimes just don't live up to the book!
I will be going to see Alice in Wonderland next week and I'm really looking forward to it and also some chick flick movies, Valentines Day and Leap Year, you know how us girlies love a real good chick flick!
1 March 2010 at 12:45 PM
I will be going to see Alice in Wonderland next week and I'm really looking forward to it and also some chick flick movies, Valentines Day and Leap Year, you know how us girlies love a real good chick flick!
1 March 2010 at 12:45 PM
I wonder if the Ricky Gervais Hollywood career will be short lived. A brief flickering star on the fame horizon. By most accounts his banter at the Goldon Globes didnt go down well with the audience. He isnt one of them and boy do they know it! They dont mind having their leg pulled by their own, but not by a 'johnny come lately' from England who is hardly fully established.
On the face of it The Invention of Lying should be good, I havent seen it but will as ever rely on Rick's Review above, but yes if it was a BBC thing I bet it would have been a winner..or at least more likely to have been a winner.
10 February 2010 at 7:05 AM
On the face of it The Invention of Lying should be good, I havent seen it but will as ever rely on Rick's Review above, but yes if it was a BBC thing I bet it would have been a winner..or at least more likely to have been a winner.
10 February 2010 at 7:05 AM
I'm glad I was able to save someone from the Bible-peddling Book fo Eli. I have nothing against movies with a Christian message and in fact I even like a fair few of them. But this isn't even buried in the subtext - it is blatant salesmanship of the bloody thing!
3 February 2010 at 9:09 PM
3 February 2010 at 9:09 PM
Rick great reviews, thanks.
I am so glad you reviewed 'The book of Eli'. I very nearly went to see it at the cinema (Not often I go there) I am quite a fan of the post-apocalyptic genre, even enjoying some of the many duds that have been produced, but I too refuse to be 'preached' to by a film maker.
I think it should be classed as propaganda.
As you say this film should have 'advertisement' plastered all over it!
I also remember the TV series 'edge of darkness' so will look forward to seeing this film, but think I will wait to watch it at home.
The movie poster finds. Brilliant!
Absolutely mind boggling what the artists were thinking at the time, lol.
Either that or some very strange form of censorship!
3 February 2010 at 6:43 PM
I am so glad you reviewed 'The book of Eli'. I very nearly went to see it at the cinema (Not often I go there) I am quite a fan of the post-apocalyptic genre, even enjoying some of the many duds that have been produced, but I too refuse to be 'preached' to by a film maker.
I think it should be classed as propaganda.
As you say this film should have 'advertisement' plastered all over it!
I also remember the TV series 'edge of darkness' so will look forward to seeing this film, but think I will wait to watch it at home.
The movie poster finds. Brilliant!
Absolutely mind boggling what the artists were thinking at the time, lol.
Either that or some very strange form of censorship!
3 February 2010 at 6:43 PM
Wow! Rick not sure how you managed to get hold of all those posters..amazing collection!
Yes Ive seen the Edge of Darkness advertised on TV in the past week and straight away I wondered if it was the old TV series and you have confirmed it there. That old series was very popular and had a great haunting guitar theme played by Eric Clapton. it starred a guy called Bob Peck...now Im remembering all this off the top of my head so hopefully its accurate. But the series did attract a lot of attention, not least because of the music, and Bob Peck had a nice line in mangled raincoats!
Am amazed to see it regurgitate into a vehicle for Mel Gibson who I can never seem to warm to. It was all downhill from Mad Max .
3 February 2010 at 4:38 PM
Yes Ive seen the Edge of Darkness advertised on TV in the past week and straight away I wondered if it was the old TV series and you have confirmed it there. That old series was very popular and had a great haunting guitar theme played by Eric Clapton. it starred a guy called Bob Peck...now Im remembering all this off the top of my head so hopefully its accurate. But the series did attract a lot of attention, not least because of the music, and Bob Peck had a nice line in mangled raincoats!
Am amazed to see it regurgitate into a vehicle for Mel Gibson who I can never seem to warm to. It was all downhill from Mad Max .
3 February 2010 at 4:38 PM
I remember Rick did a review..I think so anyway if Im remembering right, of the new Wicker Man on doverforum here a while back. It was on at 10pm last night on Channel FIVE and anything at all on TV is very welcome these days. Many agree as have been reading that thread on the forum...there is nothing on. So as this movie had been discussed I was quite thrilled to have a look at it.
This of course is the new Wicker Man with Nicholas Cage and not the the original one with Edward Woodward. The whole setting was transferered from an obscure Scotish island to an obscure American one. Cage was called Edward in the movie and the missing young girl was called Woodward...so that probably was a direct homage to Edward Woodward in the original...although I cant be certain.
I quite liked this film but as it was yet another remake, it didnt quite measure up to the original which had more light and shade and a greater depth to it, but as we are all on spartan foddder on TV these days I tucked into it with some relish...but this post acknowledges that I was probably more glad of having something to watch than anything, so its probably more that, than a true appraisal of the film itself.
At least I watched this one to the end and enjoyed it well enough. Not so with the Planet of the Apes remake which I couldnt stick. Like that woman in Wicker...Molly Parker. I would submit meself to her anytime but only of course after she fed me with drink all night! Ye cant give in too easily!
26 January 2010 at 3:46 PM
This of course is the new Wicker Man with Nicholas Cage and not the the original one with Edward Woodward. The whole setting was transferered from an obscure Scotish island to an obscure American one. Cage was called Edward in the movie and the missing young girl was called Woodward...so that probably was a direct homage to Edward Woodward in the original...although I cant be certain.
I quite liked this film but as it was yet another remake, it didnt quite measure up to the original which had more light and shade and a greater depth to it, but as we are all on spartan foddder on TV these days I tucked into it with some relish...but this post acknowledges that I was probably more glad of having something to watch than anything, so its probably more that, than a true appraisal of the film itself.
At least I watched this one to the end and enjoyed it well enough. Not so with the Planet of the Apes remake which I couldnt stick. Like that woman in Wicker...Molly Parker. I would submit meself to her anytime but only of course after she fed me with drink all night! Ye cant give in too easily!
26 January 2010 at 3:46 PM
Christoph Waltz has done well from Inglorious - his performance was outstanding. A real work of acting genius. But one great performance doesn't make a great film. And don't forget that awards are not always an indication of a great film, at the end of the day people will always love or hate any given movie, including award-givers. Inglorious Basterds has a large number of poor reviews as well as many great ones, but I'm afraid that I just wasn't that impressed with it.
25 January 2010 at 5:44 PM
25 January 2010 at 5:44 PM
the tarantino film "inglorious basterds" got a bit of a hammering on here, but i read today that it won a top award across the pond at a major awards shindig.
has anyone here seen it yet?
24 January 2010 at 10:19 PM
has anyone here seen it yet?
24 January 2010 at 10:19 PM
Speaking of Robin Hood, any of you guys looking forward to the new Russel Crowe version due to hit this year?
20 January 2010 at 10:58 PM
20 January 2010 at 10:58 PM
i always get confused over my childhood heroes robin hood and william tell.
i always hoped that the sheriff of nottingham would finally get robin before he started swinging from chandeliers, kicking everybody.
landburgher gessler always seemed to be eating a chicken, when he screamed out his only line "seize him"!!!!.
20 January 2010 at 8:48 PM
i always hoped that the sheriff of nottingham would finally get robin before he started swinging from chandeliers, kicking everybody.
landburgher gessler always seemed to be eating a chicken, when he screamed out his only line "seize him"!!!!.
20 January 2010 at 8:48 PM
Righ now running on Film Four is a real candidate for the worst film of all time. Its some sort of Anglo-Spanish thing called Captain Scarlett. Nobody at all in their right mind would sit and watch it. The filming is awful, the acting is awful, the colours are awful. If I took a basic camcorder out onto Dover Seafront I would be at this level of filming in half an hour, even though Ive never used a camcorder. The likeable Richard Greene is in it...but alas sadly for him he never found a real role outside of Robin Hood and his career sunk like the Titanic.
Film Four are a very disappointing channel all round though.
20 January 2010 at 3:20 PM
Film Four are a very disappointing channel all round though.
20 January 2010 at 3:20 PM
the highest earners are those that do not normally need too much command of the english language.
our homegrown films are usually great winners of awards in the states but do not translate for worldwide audiences.
anything with people jumping out planes, setting off explosives or having great special effects will always earn more than a mike leigh work of genius.
hollywood understands this and operates towards that end.
19 January 2010 at 11:02 PM
our homegrown films are usually great winners of awards in the states but do not translate for worldwide audiences.
anything with people jumping out planes, setting off explosives or having great special effects will always earn more than a mike leigh work of genius.
hollywood understands this and operates towards that end.
19 January 2010 at 11:02 PM
Rick we were out at dinner the other night and all discussing your film reviews, so although its perhaps a bit slow on the responses here from Members or from Jo Public, its certainly a very good corner if people want to know about movies. All were discussing Avatar, your take on James Cameron and so on. I heard the news re The Golden Globes this morning so quite exciting. As you say, and indeed as they said on R4 this morning, its destined to be the highest earner of all time, and Hollywood likes a profit most of all. I havent seen it myself but quite a few in the immediate entourage have gone to it...so its creating quite a buzz.
I wonder when they say the highest earner of all time...is that just a straightforward cash calculation...did it really take more than Ben Hur and Gone With the Wind in real terms( allowing for inflation)?
18 January 2010 at 3:36 PM
I wonder when they say the highest earner of all time...is that just a straightforward cash calculation...did it really take more than Ben Hur and Gone With the Wind in real terms( allowing for inflation)?
18 January 2010 at 3:36 PM
I must say I am amazed that Avatar won Best Movie (Drama) at the Golden Globes awards. Okay it is a great movie but it's a great special effects movie and that's about it. I cannot believe that it beat the Hurt Locker, which has much tighter, gripping tension and realistic drama. I suppose Hollywood loves money and Avatar, now the second biggest earner after Titanic, will be lavished with awards simply because of its financial success rather than its artistic merits.
18 January 2010 at 1:24 PM
18 January 2010 at 1:24 PM